


apartment 10b

by currahees



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slow Burn, but the whole gangs here, idk what this is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-03-10 03:55:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18930772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/currahees/pseuds/currahees
Summary: toccoa apartments is full of people who don't know how to keep to themselves.ORthe one in which everyone lives in the same apartment building and shenanigans occur.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know where this is going or how long it'll be but i really wanted to write a continuous story with my favourite boys, i hope you enjoy!

"What do you reckon he's like?"

"I don't know, I've not met the guy."

"Well, go find out!"

Carwood gave Luz a look, rolling his eyes a little at the mans eagerness. "If you want to talk to him, do it. Just be nice," he says.

George sits and debates it for a bit. It was a Friday night, him and Lip were sat watching old Friends reruns on their TV and they could still hear the new guy moving in across the hall. Every now and then there'd be a swear in an accent that sounded a lot like Bill's, followed by a thud as he dropped something.

"Don't you think someone should help him?" Carwood thinks out loud after hearing another loud bang. Before George can reply, Carwood is on his feet. "I'm going to see if he needs help. You're more than welcome to join me," he offers, but Luz shook his head.

"Nah, think I'm good here. Let me know what he's like though!" He calls as Carwood exits the apartment.

Walking across the hall, he knocks twice and the door is pulled open to reveal a very tired looking man.

"Hey! I'm Carwood, I live across the hall," Lip begins, pointing to his own apartment. "I came to see if you needed any help moving in."

The red headed man sighs and smiles. "That'd be great, thank you. I've already nearly broken a few bones trying to carry everything up here. The rest of our stuff is in the truck downstairs." The two of them begin walking down the several flights of stairs, Carwood trying to strike up conversation.

"So, what's your name?"

The man grins. "Babe. Well, it's a nickname but ain't no one calls me by my real name."

Carwood holds out his hand for him to shake. "Nice to meet you, Babe. I'm Carwood but everyone calls me Lip."

Once they reach the bottom of the stairs, Babe groans as he spots a man walking towards them.

"Hey Babe! I thought you weren't coming 'till next week?" Bill asks, punching Babe playfully in the arm.

"You already know him?" Carwood asks, looking between the two of them.

"Unfortunately," Babe mumbles, failing to hide a smile.

"We grew up together, his ma and mine were best friends. Known him since he was a baby," Bill clarifies. "Do you need help bringing all your shit upstairs?"

A few minutes later and Carwood meets Babe's roommate, a younger guy called Julian. Between the four of them they manage to carry the rest of their boxes upstairs with a lot less swearing and dropping things than Babe achieved on his own. They still had the problem of the couch, however.

"I'll get Buck to help you guys with that, Bill you wanna ask Toye too?" Carwood suggests. They needed someone with a little more muscle and no offence to Babe and Julian, but they didn't look the strongest.

"Yeah, I'll go get 'em," Bill disappears upstairs again in search of the two men.

Julian had gone down the street to grab food for him and Babe, leaving the latter alone with Carwood.

"So, what is it with this building? Does everyone know everyone or something?" Babe asks, still a little shocked at how friendly people were to him.

Carwood lets out a small chuckle. "Sorta. I'll give you the quick rundown. Me and George live in 10B with Perconte, across the hall from you guys. Below us is Harry, Winters and Speirs with your friend Bill and Joe Toye across from them. Buck Compton, Malarkey, Skip and Penkala live on the bottom floor, there's a few more guys kinda spread out. Martin, Bull, Webster, Liebgott but you'll meet them eventually. We usually hang out at that bar down the road, the 101st on Saturday nights, you're more than welcome to join us."

Babe blinked at Carwood, that was a lot of information to take in and he was sure he'd forget half the names by the time this conversation was over. "Thanks, Lip. I'll be sure to tell Julian too," he replies, promising himself he'd try to learn the names. Eventually. "The elevator been broken long?" He asks, seeing Bill return looking a little out of breath from running up and down the stairs.

"Since I moved in, so about two years. The building owner, Sobel, doesn't care so we kinda have to fix everything ourselves. No one's tried to fix it though. Yet," he says, looking a little scared for when the time came when someone would try and fix it.

"They'll be down in five minutes, I ran into Speirs on the stairs and he asked if you're still good for coming over to fix his TV, Lip?" Bill asks, a frown on his face. "I didn't know their TV was broken."

Carwood is quick to explain, "Nah, it's not their main one. Speirs has an old one he wants to sell, he needs help with that one."

Bill shrugs, accepting the answer. Carwood almost sighs in relief, glad they weren't caught out. He wasn't ready for everyone to find out, just yet.

Toye and Compton are downstairs in a few minutes ready to help, but Babe's too distracted and doesn't hear them asking for his name. Instead he's focused on the dark hair man who had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. He walks past them, sending a quick smile to Lip and Toye, before making his way into the apartment block.

"Who's that?" Babe asks, spinning on his heels to ask Bill.

Bill laughs, "That Babe, is Gene. He's a Doctor over at the hospital and looks out for us. To be honest, I think we'd all be dead one way or another if it wasn't for him." Babe doesn't respond, his eyes still fixed on where the man was stood. "I'll introduce ya tomorrow, but for now can we get this damn couch upstairs?"

Babe finally falls back to reality. "Yeah, yeah, 'course."

"I think your friends got it bad," Toye jokes, not even breaking a sweat as he lifts the couch up.

"Shut up Joe, you can't say shit. I know what you think of Luz-," Bill begins, before Joe manages to kick him and not fall over despite carrying the couch. "Fuck! That's not fair, your legs metal! It's like being hit with a baseball bat!" Bill exclaims, grabbing his leg.

Toye smirks in response and finally the couch is being moved upstairs.

"Metal leg?" Babe asks Bill.

"Long story, Toye served with me overseas. Remember when I lost my leg?" He asks, Babe nods in response. "It was because I was trying to save this asshole. Now we got matching legs, except Joe's is metal because he needs all the attention," Bill laughs. Joe rolls his eyes but Babe can tell he's not actually annoyed with Bill, that was normally everyone's response to the man.

"Shut it Gonorrhea," Joe replies, threatening to kick him again.

Carwood follows them all up, making sure no one falls or injures themselves on the way to their floor. After getting the couch in Babe's apartment, he thanks them for their help and promises he'll be there tomorrow night to get to know them all. Everyone goes back to their own apartment, Carwood entering to find Frank in his seat.

"How's the new guy? Luz told me you went to help him," Frank asks, shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"He's nice, Bill already knows him." Carwood reaches over and grabs some popcorn from Frank's bowl. "Oh and Luz, you missed Joe kicking Bill with his metal leg."

George sighs dramatically, "Damnit! That would have been funny!"

Carwood laughs and grabs his phone and keys off the table. "I'm off to go help Ron with his TV, I'll see you boys later."

He leaves, hearing the start of an argument between them over which Star Wars film was the worst. He loved where he lived.


	2. Chapter 2

David’s late. Again. He blames the man who was still asleep next to him, but they both knew this wasn’t a one time thing. Swearing and grabbing clothes from his dresser, he quickly brushes his teeth, washes his face and leaves his apartment. Luckily, being a Uni Professor meant that not all of his students were on time for their 9am class on Wednesday so David’s slight tardiness wasn’t a massive deal. (Although the hickey on his neck was, but he’d deal with that later).

His day passes rather quickly, he texts Joe and asks him if they’re still up for their dinner date that night but gets no reply. He’s not too worried, Joe usually doesn’t have his phone on when he’s driving. As soon as he finishes his final class for the day, he packs up and leaves. There’s a stack of papers in his bag that he has to mark for Friday so he’s hoping to get most of them done tonight.

Parking his car outside, he spots a familiar figure walking into the building.

“Hey, Lip!” He calls out, jogging to catch up with the man.

Carwood offers Webster a smile, but David noticed the bags around the mans eyes and the paleness of his skin. “You doin’ alright?”

Carwood waves a hand absentmindedly, “I’m fine, Web. Just a little sick that’s all.”

David doesn’t believe him and when they arrive outside his apartment, the door is immediately yanked open. “Honey! You’re home!” George says sarcastically. “Now get your ass inside and lay down, I know you’re sick so don’t even try to pretend that you’re not.” He demands. “Hey Web, how’s it going?” George smiles.

“Not too bad, how about you?” David asks in return.

“Just dandy. Now if you’ll excuse us, I have to make this idiot rest. Don’t make me call Winters up here to give you a lecture,” George faces Lip, who sighed and walked into his apartment. “See ya around!” Luz grins, David smiling back and walking down the hall to his apartment.

His roommate was sat on their couch, legs spread out with his eyes closed.

“Long day?” David asks.

Gene just nods in response, still not opening his eyes. David dumps his stuff on the small table in the kitchen, before returning to the living room. He waits a minute, not sure if he really wants to ask Gene what he’s about to.

“Before you ask, no I didn’t hear you last night. Ever since Toye recommended those noise cancelling headphones I’ve been fine,” Roe mumbles, finally opening his eyes to shoot a very small smirk in the direction of David.

“Oh thank God.” David sighs.

“But maybe take it back to his tonight, yeah? He does live alone so it makes more sense,” Gene adds, to which David agrees. The Doctor definitely needed some undisturbed sleep and David didn’t want to take that away from him.

There’s a knock at the door that takes both Gene and David by surprise. Neither of them were expecting anyone. Going to open it, David finds an unfamiliar man stood there.

“Hey, can I help you?” He asks.

The man opens his mouth and starts rambling faster than David’s heard anyone speak. “Yeah, hi, my name is Babe - weird name, I know, it’s my nickname and everyone calls me that so don’t worry it’s not that weird. Anyway me and my friend just moved in here, apartment 9A across the hall from Carwood, Perconte and Luz. I’m assuming you know them? Everyone seems to know everyone here, it’s pretty cool actually-.”

David cuts him off before he runs out of breath. “Yeah, Dick mentioned something about a new guy. I’m David, that’s Gene back there,” he gestures to Roe who was still on the couch, but had his eyes open now and trained on Babe.

“Nice to meet ya! I don’t mean to overstep or be rude but, um, Gene was it?” Babe asks, to which Gene nods. “Luz told me to find you because apparently Carwood is sick, like really sick and he passed out and they don’t know what to do and you’re a doctor so...,” Babe trials off.

David steps to one side to let Gene walk past him, already up and on his feet. “I’ve got to get ready for tonight, text me how Lip is,” David says to Gene who nods as he follows the overeager man down the hall.

Gene’s tired to the bone but he knows a Doctor is never officially off shift, especially living with a bunch of idiots like he does.

“Did you say your name was ‘Babe’?” He asks the redhead once they had left his apartment.

To this Babe blushes and Gene can see the freckles that are decorating his face. “Yeah, it’s an old nickname. My real name’s Edward but no one calls me that, only my ma when I’ve done something wrong,” he explains.

Gene nods in response, already deciding that he was calling him Edward. 

Arriving outside apartment 10B, Gene lifts his hand to knock on the door but George has already opened it. Gene has only seen George looked panicked a handful of times and this was one of them.

“He just sorta stopped talking and fell over, he won’t wake up and I didn’t know who else to call, Doc,” he explains, leading him to the man on the floor. Babe stands at the doorway awkwardly, not sure if this was any of his business.

Gene kneels down next to Carwood, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead. “Yep, high fever, cold sweats, just what I thought,” he mumbles to himself. “Edward, get me a glass of water. George, help me sit him up.” Gene barks out orders, Babe taking a few seconds to respond. He was too thrown by Gene calling him by his full name to react at first.

A few minutes later and Lipton is thankfully awake again, albeit a little confused.

“Why’s everyone looking at me like that?” He asks, taking a sip of the glass of water Babe had handed him.

“Do you not remember?” Luz asks. Lip shakes his head. “You were talking then all of a sudden you just stopped and fainted so I called Doc.” Lipton gives a look of appreciation to Gene, Luz and Babe.

“I heard a crash, is everything alright?”

All four men turn their heads and look to the person who had entered the room. Ron started walking towards Lip, a look of concern apparent on his face.

“What happened?” He asks Luz in one of the calmest voices George had ever heard.

“He was complaining that he wasn’t feeling too good then fainted. Doc says he’s alright though, dehydrated and exhausted and needs rest,” George explains for the second time in a span of five minute.

“I’m fine, really,” Carwood mumbles. Ron shakes his head and moves closer, momentarily forgetting about the other people in the room. He rests his hand against Lip’s forehead, then resting it against his cheek and sighing.

“You need to stop working yourself so hard,” Ron says, his hand still on his cheek.

George, meanwhile was watching them with eyes like saucers. He exchanges a glance with Gene who shrugs, already having a sense that the two were dating. Luz had no clue.

“How long have you guys been dating?” He blurts out, causing Gene to roll his eyes as Babe looked on confused.

Ron immediately pulls his hand back and for the first time is speechless. They had been waiting to tell the guys, Carwood wanted to do it at the right time so no one was taken off guard. That plan was clearly out the window.

“Almost 6 months,” Carwood says, hiding his smirk as Luz still looked at them shocked. Ron relaxes a little, glad that they won’t have to sneak around anymore.

“You mean you’ve been dating for six whole months and only thought to tell me now? I’m shocked, I’m hurt, I cannot BELIEVE-,” Luz rambles, before Carwood gently kicks him from where he was sat.

“Shut up Luz,” Carwood weakly mumbles, still grinning at his friends reaction. “We were going to tell you this weekend but I guess you know now.”

“Bastards,” George whispers. “I’m real happy for you two though,” he adds quickly.

Gene clears his throat, directing his attention to Ron. "Make sure he drinks plenty and stays off his feet. He needs rest, no excuses," he says. Ron nods and thanks the Doctor as he leaves, taking a confused looking Babe with him.

Once Ron managed to get Carwood into bed, despite his arguments that he had work to do, the two laid there in silence for a while.

"Hey, Ron?" Carwood asks, his voice breaking the silence.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad the guys know. I mean, it wasn't exactly ideal the way we told them but still. I'm happy," he thinks out loud.

Ron runs a hand down Carwood's arm before interlocking their fingers together. "Me too." He mumbles, pressing a kiss to the back of Carwood's hand. He falls asleep a few minutes later and Ron stays there in his own happiness for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for the kudos and comments so far! you guys are too kind <3


	3. Chapter 3

For the fourth time that week, Nix thought about how desperately him and Winters needed their own apartment. He loved his friends but if Harry walked in on them one more time, he was going to shoot the man. And Speirs always drank all the milk and never replaced it. It was hell.

“I was thinking of making spaghetti for dinner tonight,” Dick says, walking towards the noodles and sauces.

“Why did you bring me food shopping, you know how much I hate it,” Nix sighs, following him with their small cart of food. Dick usually did the weekly shopping for the two of them, sometimes even the whole apartment. Lewis hated grocery shopping, but Dick had insisted he come along this time.

“Because when we move out and run out of food you won’t be able to steal Ron’s or Harry’s,” Dick replies.

“Well that’s not happening anytime soon, I think we’re okay.” He replies, pushing the cart down another aisle as he followed Dick around cluelessly. Dick turned around and smirked, Nix realises he was up to something. “What?” He asks, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

“You know that apartment on the top floor? The one that’s been under construction for ages?” He asks, Nix nodding along. “It’s been put up for rent, I already applied for us. We got approved this morning, I was gonna wait to tell you over dinner but I couldn’t wait. We can finally move out, into a place for just the two of us!”

“Oh my God, I’ve never been this happy to be dragged along to go food shopping with you!” Nix exclaims, abandoning the cart to kiss him quickly. Dick laughs, before pulling away. “Lew, the cart,” he mumbles, grinning as someone tries to manoeuvre around the abandoned cart. He laughs and grabs it quickly. “Okay, I’m ready to listen. Tell me all about grocery shopping,” He announces.

“Wait, so you weren’t listening to a thing I said before this?” Dick asks.

“C’mon Dick, you know me. I’m listening now though,” He promises, the smile still plastered across his face. Dick rolls his eyes but starts talking, instructing Lewis on where to find the chocolate bars he liked and what kind of milk to buy.

* * *

"Why didn't you tell me how much work moving out would actually involve?" Nix complains, collapsing onto their bed. It was the only item of furniture they had successfully moved into their new apartment.

"We're literally moving up two floors, it'd be worse if we were moving out of this building," Dick replies, rolling his eyes and smiling at Nix.

"Good thing we're not doing that anytime soon," Nix sighs, spreading his arms and legs out so he was stretched across the whole bed.

"Come on, we've got more stuff to move," Dick gently hits his legs, Nix murmuring something about 'being right there' before Dick grabbed his foot and started pulling him off the bed.

"Okay! Okay! I'm up!" Nix yells, trying to kick out at Dick but failing. He reaches to grab Dick and pull him down on top of him, Dick stumbling before crashing onto Nix, both of them laughing so hard they struggled to catch their breath.

Nix is the first one to get up, pulling Dick up with him. "Come on, we've got more stuff to move," he says, mimicking him from earlier. Chuckling, he follows his back downstairs into their old apartment.

They find Harry and Kitty sat on the couch, Kitty watching one of her several true crime shows that she was obsessed with. Harry was clearly trying to avoid watching the graphic programme, but was failing. Seeing them enter, Harry leaps off the couch to greet them.

"Hey guys, how's the moving going?" He asks, looking back to see if Kitty had noticed him move. She hadn't.

"Terrible, thanks for offering to help us," Nix replies, hitting Harry on the back as he walked past.

"I didn't offer?" Harry repeats, confused.

"Guess you're helping now," Dick shrugs, smirking to himself as Harry followed them to their room.

"Why didn't you get Lip to help you guys? You do know he could probably lift all of these boxes without breaking a sweat," Harry asks, struggling to carry one of the heavier boxes.

"He's out with Ron today," Nix replies, "You should have been smart like them, made fake plans to avoid helping us."

"Remind me next time you move, I'll make sure I'm not around," Harry replies, setting down the heavy box and opting for a lighter one to carry. "Although, anything to get out of watching those gross shows with Kitty. I don't get how she can sit there and watch them, they're intense," He shakes his head.

"Or you're just a wimp?" Nix offers, Harry glaring at him.

"Will you two be at the 101st tonight?" Harry asks, following them out of their room and up the stairs.

"Yeah, is that new kid coming too?" Dick asks.

"Which one?"

"The ginger one?" Dick clarifies.

"Oh great, there's more of you," Nix mumbles.

"Yeah, I think he is," Harry replies. "He's called Babe, old nickname or something. Apparently he's got a thing for our Doc."

"Swear everyone in this building lives for gossip," Nix shakes his head.

"You're usually the one who starts the gossip," Dick calls him out.

"Not this time, I don't even know who this kid is," Nix replies, "Although, if he's got a thing for Doc I'm sure we could fix something up...," He trails off.

"We're not meddling in people relationships again, Lew," Dick stops his train of thought.

Nix gasps, "How dare you accuse me of something like that, I do nothing of the sort."

Dick snorts, "Okay, tell me it wasn't you who tried to get Ron and Lip together last year at the Christmas party."

"In my defence, they did end up together," Nix mumbles, Dick still glaring at him. "Fine, I promise I won't get involved," he sighs. Winters nods, before going back downstairs to grab more boxes.

"You're gonna get involved, aren't you?" Harry asks.

"You bet your ass I am," Nix responds, smirking.

* * *

Later that night there's a large group sat in the back corner of the 101st, taking up almost four tables. Laughter echoed around the room and drinks kept coming.

"So, you've known Babe for how long?" Nix asks Bill.

"Since we were in diapers, he grew up down the street from me. He was definitely a trouble maker."

"Still is," Julian adds, earning a shove from Babe.

It was an unusually large turn out, almost everyone that lived in the building was squeezed around the tables. Personal space was non existent but it looked like no one minded. Especially George Luz, who was sat so close to Joe Toye he might as well be sat in his lap. Nix knew they both liked each other, hell almost every sat at the table did, but the two still hadn't done anything about it. Maybe they needed more help than Babe and Gene.

"Hey, Gene! Over here!" Babe yells, seeing the man walk through the front door. He looked tired, but for the first time in a week he wasn't in his hospital clothes. He was wearing black jeans and a plain shirt and Babe once again was rendered speechless. Gene walked over to their table and sat next to Babe, smiling at everyone.

"By the way Ron, I think you owe me an explanation," Nix announces, staring his best friend down.

Ron puts his drink down, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"I'm your best friend, and you didn't even tell me you and Carwood were dating. And have been for months," Nix explains. He places a hand to his chest in fake hurt. "I'm deeply upset."

A few people around the table laugh, rolling their eyes at Nix's usual overdramatic antics. Ron shrugs, resting his hand on top of Carwood's.

"Had to keep it interesting, didn't I?" He smirks.

"Wait,  _those two_ are dating?" Babe leans over to Bill, whispering. He looks back and forth between Carwood and Ron, the idea that the nice guy who helped him move in was dating the scary, looks like daggers guy from downstairs. Bill nods, chuckling at Babe's reaction.

"The dart boards are finally free," Buck says, looking over the group to the two empty boards at the back. "Who's up for a little game?"

Within minutes the group is divided into three groups, plus a few extras who didn't want to play but knew they'd have to stick around and watch. Last time the boys were left unattended with the darts Buck ended up with one in his ass, somehow.

"How much we betting?" George asks, twirling a dart in his hand.

"Smokes? Or drinks?" Buck offers.

"Both," George replies, his team rolling their eyes and protesting. George wasn't the best at darts and usually ended up costing his team money.

"Really George? You're gonna lose." Toye says.

"What, scared of a little bet?"

Joe shakes his head, "Bring it on, Luz."

Two games later and George had once again proven how terrible he was at darts. His team were down 4 cartoons of smokes and two drinks each. It was down to the final throw, if Buck missed his team would owe them a drink each. It wasn't winning, but it was better than losing completely.

"Come on, you’re having a tough night. People have tough nights," George says, trying to distract him.

"I'm having a tough night? Sure, okay Luz," Buck laughs, ignoring his taunts and throwing the dart, hitting bulleye.

"Fuck!" George exclaims. They lost, no doubt about that.

"I believe you owe us a few things boys," Buck says, smirking as they reluctantly handed over cartoons of cigarettes, grumbling about it.

"Thank you," Toye says, taking George's cigarettes off him. "Wanna join me for a smoke?" He asks.

"You mean for one of my own cigarettes? Sure Joe," George agrees, following him outside.

"I don't get why you offer to play each week, I would have thought you'd be a little better by now," Joe says.

"It's fun, plus I don't always lose," George replies, offering Joe a light. Joe raises his eyebrow in suspicion. "Okay, maybe I do always lose. But you have to admit, I was close to winning this time.

Joe laughs, shaking his head. "You were going to lose no matter what."

"If losing winds up with me here, I'm not complaining," George mumbles.

Joe heard him and felt his heart speed up at his sudden confession. All of a sudden the space between them seemed like nothing and he desperately wanted to rip the cigarette out his lips and push him up against the wall. But he didn't. They smoked in silence before heading back inside, Joe wishing that he didn't like George. It would make his life a hell of a lot easier.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a tad short + sorry for the delay in updates!

It was the sound of the bed moving that woke George up. He ignored it, until it creaked again. And he realised he wasn’t the one moving. Opening his eyes, he turns to his left to find Joe Toye laid there, sleeping in blissful ignorance.

_Oh shit._

A wave of thoughts run through his mind. How did this happen. When did this happen. Who knew about this.  _What_ even happened? George knew one thing, he needed coffee to try and process this. Leaving his room, he avoids the creaky spot on the floor and the creaky stair on the staircase to avoid waking Joe.

George makes it through two cups of coffee before Joe walks into the kitchen. Fully clothed, thankfully. Unlike the state he found him in. He didn’t think he’d be able to concentrate if Joe walked in shirtless, everyone knew he practically lived at the gym (and George was weak for a set of abs). There’s a look of confusion on Joe’s face.

"Coffee?" George offers, breaking the silence.

"What the fuck happened?" Joe replies. His tone was curious and a little worried.

"I think we did," George mumbles, looking into his coffee cup. The silence falls over the kitchen again and for once George couldn’t find anything to say.

"I’ll see ya later, Luz," Joe says, passing George and not making eye contact once. He rushes out of the apartment and George collapses into one of the chairs at their table.

"Fuck," George whispers to himself, running a hand through his hair. He desperately tried to remember what happened the night before, but all he sees is blurry faces and shots. Lot of shots,

"Hey! You gave me a headache last night!" Frank drops into the chair across from him.

"What?"

"You and Toye. Didn’t know you had it in ya, only took you two years to finally sleep with him," Frank grins. He senses the confusion and explains, filling in the gaps in George’s memories. "Last night at the 101st Bill talked you into a drinking game but it ended with you and Toye seeing who could do more shots. Before we knew it the two of you were leaving the bar, hands all over each other. Lip and I got back about an hour after you left and heard you two, next time try to keep it down, shithead."

"I don’t think there’s going to be a next time," George sighs, dropping his head into his hands, the after effects of last night starting to take their toll.

Someone drops painkillers and a glass of water onto the table in front of him. George looks up and sees Lip smiling apologetically at him. "Thanks, Lip."

"Where’d Joe go?" Carwood asks.

"Left. I don’t think he felt like sticking around," George says.

"I’m sure he’ll call," Lip offers. George shrugs, he saw the look in Joe’s eyes. He wasn’t going to call, he knew that for sure.

George was right, Joe didn't call. It had been almost a week and there wasn't a text. Or a dm, snap, nothing. George was being ghosted by one of his close friends and he couldn't stand it. Which is why he was stood where he was, on Joe's doorstep at 7pm on Thursday night. George debated it all day at work, going back and forth between sending him a text, calling him or doing what he was doing now. He kinda wished he had just texted, the wait was killing him.

The door was pulled open, Joe stood there with a piece of pizza hanging out of his mouth.

"George?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, Joe," George replies, moving back and forth on his feet awkwardly.

"Uh, what are you doing here?" Joe asks.

George tries to think of a smart response, something that wouldn't be too weird or awkward. But it couldn't get any more awkward than it was currently, so George went for it. "It's been almost a week since we slept together. And I know, you're not one for sticking around for breakfast the morning after, but hell Joe you ran out of my apartment like you had seen a ghost. I don't know what I did or didn't do and I know it was a mistake and we were both drunk, but you don't have to ignore me. Fuck, a text or something would have been nice, I've been freaking myself out this past week thinkin' you aren't gonna talk to me again and honestly, that scares the shit out of me. So if keeping you as a friend means we never talk about what happened, that's fine by me. Completely okay. No problems here, not at all-."

George is cut off by Joe pushing him against the door frame, kissing him softly. "Shut up, Georgie," Joe mumbles against his lips and for once, George is happy to not talk.

//

"You gonna go runnin' out of here again?" George asks, his eyes following Joe's hand as it traces patterns softly onto his hip bone.

"What? Runnin' outta my own flat?" Joe asks, chuckling. "No, I'm not. I'm sorry about that."

"I take it that you don't regret what happened last Friday. Or tonight?" George mumbles, raising an eyebrow.

"You are the only thing I don't regret," Joe whispers.

"Never took you for a sap, Joe," George teases.

"Never knew I was one," he replies. George laughs and moves closer, letting his head fall onto Joe's shoulder. Joe sighs happily, continuing to trace shapes onto George's skin.


End file.
